Star Ocean: Starting from the Abandoned Mining Space Station

Chapter 71 The individual and inventory of afterglow
The landing location chosen by Gamma A was a ship factory on their colony.

During the landing, the complete industrial equipment that almost completely covered the surface gradually appeared in front of Chen Ming's eyes.

He looked at the giant machines in operation and asked Gamma AI: "Are these devices controlled by Afterglow individuals?"

"Most of them are, but there are also many mechanical equipment that can be fully automated and do not require special control. It only requires overall control by a small number of individuals."

After getting the answer, Chen Ming didn't pay too much attention to the Yuhui AI that was integrated with the industrial facilities.

For him, if it is not easy to get the AI ​​core on the ship, then it is even more difficult to get the core on these fixed equipment.

So Chen Ming sat obediently in the captain's cabin of the Iron Ore, quietly watching the diopter level being transported into the factory after landing.

Watching various equipment perform various maintenance actions on its surface that Chen Ming has seen countless times.

The waiting process was a bit boring, so Chen Ming took the initiative to ask Gamma A: "Where is your mission reward?"

"Three mechanical spacecraft chips will be connected to my core during maintenance, and the monthly supply quota will be automatically recorded."

"Oh, okay."

Chen Ming agreed casually, and his attention was gradually attracted by the operating mechanical equipment.

Because when he was watching the operation of those devices, he suddenly thought of his own abilities.

Although his ability seems to be just to control the spacecraft.

But in fact, everything attached to the spacecraft will be controlled by Chen Ming's ability.

Even a pistol that has nothing to do with the spaceship, just placed on the spaceship, has such an effect.

Although Chen Ming has no way to control these maintenance equipment now, if he replicates these equipment and installs them on the spacecraft, the situation will be very different.

Chen Ming really didn't understand what the principle was. What was the nature of his ability?
After struggling for a while and not being able to figure it out, Chen Ming stopped thinking about it.

Because the maintenance of the diopter level does not take much time.

He has other things to do now.

The diopter level soared again.

What Chen Ming saw after the spacecraft took off was the giant equipment that he had already seen once when it landed.

This is one of the most classic designs in human history.

It is a device that goes straight to the center of the earth.

Earth core furnace energy supply tower.

It provides a constant source of energy for all buildings in the colony and is also the core of the colony.

Countless industrial buildings spread out in a ring from it, covering the planet's land under metal.

Chen Ming took a look around in these buildings and found a lot of stamping machines and large deep drilling equipment.

There are large amounts of fragmented minerals being washed up to the surface, and there are also many more complete ores in the veins that are dug directly out through deep drilling.

These ores are carried through logistics channels throughout the colony to the vicinity of the furnace in the center of the earth, where the ore is smelted with the help of high heat.

Some finished products go directly to other factories to continue the next step of the production process.

Some are transported via space elevators to spaceports in orbit closest to the Earth's surface.

It will then be transported to other Afterglow colonies via a heavy cruiser cargo ship called the Colossus.

While the spaceport is transporting industrial finished products and smelting results, there are also many foreign cargo ships bringing resources that are not available on this planet from the outside world and investing them in the operating industrial equipment.

After all, there is a foundation of industrial facilities on this planet, so Yu Hui chose to move other industrial facilities that can be adapted together, or simply build them here for cluster production.

Therefore, although Chen Ming did not see the fusion material production center, there are still spacecraft fuel production facilities on the planet.

Coupled with the stamping machines, large-scale deep drilling, ship factories, etc. in the front, a large number of industrial facilities occupy almost more than 90% of the colony.

It is these industrial facilities that constitute a complete heavy industrial colony belonging to Yuhui on this planet.

All of the colony's afterglow buildings combined cover roughly one-fifth of the surface area of ​​a planet that's only a quarter of the size of Earth.

So after leaving this area full of industrial facilities, what Chen Ming could see outside was still desolate.

Then he suddenly discovered that on the surface of the desolate planet outside the colony, there seemed to be some scattered mechanical bodies with the ability to move moving forward.

These mechanical bodies are made of different materials and have different shapes. They are completely unlike the mechanical clan that Chen Ming has seen.

So he asked Gamma A directly: "What is that?"

Gamma A had obviously noticed those mechanical bodies and said: "They are the individuals of Afterglow, but the carriers are those machines."

"The individuals of Afterglow have many similarities and many differences."

"Some afterglows choose to explore the starry sky, while some afterglows choose to stay on the planet, because there are always things we have never discovered in some corner of the planet."

Chen Ming said with some confusion: "So they are explorers?"

"But even if you haven't fully developed this planet now, you should have done large-scale scanning. If you can just scan it clearly, do you still need them to explore it step by step?"

Gamma A rarely answered Chen Ming's question directly, but said: "I have found some human records before."

"It seems that there are also people among humans who abandon all modern technological conveniences and survive solely on their own in the natural ecological environment."

"Although I don't understand them, I think these afterglows should be similar to those of humans."

"What we are seeing now is just a part. There are many adventurous Afterglow individuals who will go to planets that we have never investigated and colonized to do similar things."

Chen Ming suddenly found that he had a new understanding of Yu Hui's individuality.

It's just that he has only ever known about the concept of adventurer on the Internet, so he still doesn't quite understand the meaning of adventure and can only treat it as an ordinary interest.

However, the behavior of these afterglow AIs made him think of some things that might be possible.

So his response to Gamma A was a somewhat meaningful sentence.

"Hmm... I think this is interesting."

After all, Chen Ming is not going to actually implement his idea for the time being.

Now he is in Yuhui's colony. If something happens to him, he might be hunted down by Yuhui on the entire planet.

Gamma A can definitely hear what Chen Ming means, but it can only support everything Chen Ming does now.

However, Chen Ming did not say much on this topic, which obviously affected the normal communication between him and Gamma A.

He immediately changed the subject and said, "By the way, is there a way for your Yuhui individuals to communicate with each other?"

"Yes, there is a hyperspace communication connection network, a network that only Afterglow individuals can read."

"All information that Yuhui individuals are willing to share will be uploaded here for other individuals to download and read freely."

"At the same time, there is a public database, which contains the knowledge recorded by Yuhui from its birth to the present."

“And it’s also a platform for communication, both publicly and privately.”

Chen Ming suddenly said with some interest: "You and the Yuhui entity controlling the cruiser..."

"Yes, we met through the platform."

Gamma A did not deny it: "If you want to hear the specific situation, I can explain it to you in detail now."

Chen Ming refused again and said: "No, you have already sent me a detailed record before. I will read it when I have time."

Gamma A quietly closed his mouth.

But Chen Ming changed the subject and said, "But you can tell me the general situation in simple terms."

Gamma A wanted to mention this matter to Chen Ming twice. This strange idea of ​​confiding made him really curious about the actual situation that Gamma A encountered.

After Gamma A summarized what he wanted to say according to Chen Ming's request, he said: "I have been trying to pursue further improvement, so I have participated in many tasks announced on the platform."

"During many missions, I communicated with him. He knew my situation, and he was optimistic about my potential for improvement in the future, so our relationship became friends."

Although the "friend" relationship mentioned by Gamma A is different from what Chen Ming thought.

However, he quickly accepted it and asked: "So the way for you to improve is through assimilating the mechanical tribe?"

"Yes, by assimilating the mechanical family, our individual computing power exceeds a threshold and becomes a more advanced afterglow."

Chen Ming understood what Gamma A meant, but there were still some questions he needed to answer.

"There are so many Yuhui individuals who like to take risks, so there should be many Yuhui individuals who want to improve like you, right?"

"Yes."

"Then why did Yuhui fall in love with you?"

Gamma A explained this: "Each individual of Afterglow has a different advantageous logic block from the moment it is produced."

"Afterglow individuals will be better than other aspects when processing and learning related content that belongs to advantageous logical blocks."

At this time, Chen Ming silently recited a word in his heart that he translated from what Gamma A said, talent.

"And my advantageous logic block lies in ship control and energy technology."

Chen Ming translated it in his mind again. This sentence should mean that Gamma A has better talents than other Afterglow individuals, and is more favored by the Afterglow AI that is responsible for controlling cruisers in combat.

After understanding this, Chen Ming suddenly asked: "Is this of any benefit to it?"

"He said that this is his interest, and he is willing to cultivate any individual who has the idea of ​​​​improving, but he is more optimistic about me than other individuals."

"I see, then since he thinks highly of you, will he come to you specifically?"

"I'm not sure."

Gamma A hesitated a little when speaking.

"Because in his free time, he has guided me in optimizing the ship control logic model."

"But many times I have no way to find him, so I'm not sure whether he will come to me this time."

To put it simply, Gamma A can sometimes get the help of higher-level bosses.

It simply embodies the word "smooth sailing" to the extreme, except that it suddenly encountered Chen Ming before.

But despite this, Chen Ming still said with some emotion: "It's good to have a big boss with you."

"So since you have a more advanced afterglow guide, how long will it take for you to be promoted?" Gamma A's answer was much faster this time: "It shouldn't take long. I have passed the preliminary test for promotion before and got gained control of the destroyer-class ship.”

"As long as I continue to complete the task and replenish the computing power, it will only be a matter of time before I improve. By then, I will need to replace the core shell with a more advanced one."

At this moment, Chen Ming suddenly understood why Gamma A had always wanted to talk about this matter.

If it wants to improve, in addition to participating in Yuhui's mission to obtain the mechanical family's chip, all it needs to do is replace the core shell.

To replace the core shell, it is natural to remove the original core from the spacecraft.

Gamma A wants to improve, but it needs to be temporarily out of Chen Ming's control.

Although Chen Ming feels that Gamma A does not know the means by which he controls them, and may really just want to improve and hopes to get Chen Ming's permission, it is better not to gamble on small-probability events.

So Chen Ming directly chose a compromise method and said: "Then just wait until you reach that level and then tell me."

"Thank you."

After Chen Ming completely satisfied his curiosity about Yuhui's existence, he ended the topic.

But not long after, as the Yuhui individual at the limit of Chen Ming's sight completely disappeared, he asked on a whim: "Do you Yuhui have any individuals similar to 'travel friends', such as organizing to go to a certain planet together?" Go on an adventure or something.”

"It exists, but there is currently no individual organization."

It would be easier to handle if it existed.

Sooner or later he will have the opportunity to do something in this area.

It doesn't matter to Chen Ming whether he is there now or not, because the time he can stay in the Afterglow Colony is almost up.

The formation of the pirate space station will definitely be delayed if we stay any longer.

So Chen Ming said to Gamma A: "It's time for us to leave."

"Received, I have previously sent you a map of the surrounding galaxies, please choose the destination."

Chen Ming called up the galaxy map, which showed the area of ​​the galaxy where the star field controlled by the afterglow meets the star field on the edge of the human empire.

During the time when the spacecraft took off again, carrying the Lumen class that had been parked in space just now, and heading to the edge of the galaxy to prepare for launching the hyperspace channel.

In addition to positioning on the galaxy map, Chen Ming was also looking at the unfamiliar galaxies on the galaxy map that were outside the borders of the human empire.

Just looking at it, his hand clicking on the galaxy map suddenly paused.

Because Chen Ming suddenly realized something at this time that he had not realized before when he first received the galaxy map.

His gaze shifted from the galaxy map to the afterglow colony that was gradually fading away outside the diopter.

This heavy industrial colony, which can cover one-fifth of the planet's surface area, is definitely an important colony for Yuhui.

And it has obviously been marked on the galaxy map that Chen Ming has now obtained.

And in addition to this colony, there are other important places belonging to Afterglow that are also marked on it.

Chen Ming's mind was a little confused at this time, and he quickly asked Gamma A: "Where did you get this galaxy map?"

"He gave it to me."

Okay, now it makes sense.

Chen Ming's thoughts suddenly became clear.

Originally, he was still thinking that any ship of Yuhui could obtain such a detailed galaxy map, so humans should have been able to sieve Yuhui long ago.

Now it seems that this galaxy map should be a highly confidential galaxy map, and it was handed over to Gamma A by the cruiser Afterglow AI.

The military should not know the location of these important locations, otherwise they would have attacked long ago, and how could they give Yu Hui a chance to take the lead.

Therefore, if this map of galaxies inside Afterglow is really spread, there will definitely be some big problems on the Afterglow side.

But the existence of Afterglow is valuable to Chen Ming. Those AI cores and ships may become part of Chen Ming himself in the future.

So he must keep this galaxy map.

All Chen Ming could do was put a few locks on the files storing galaxy maps on the Iron Ore's computer.

The diopter level soon reached the edge of the galaxy.

It gradually stopped, and the hyperspace channel system matching the engine was gradually started.

After feeling a slight pull of gravity, Chen Ming discovered that the external environment scanned by the diopter level sensor was completely different.

At this time, Chen Ming was in a deep purple space. Mist-like hyperspace clouds were densely covered throughout this space. It could be seen that countless purple lightnings were flashing in those lavender clouds.

However, those clouds and lightning are distributed far away from the diopter level.
And there is a safe passage without hyperspace channel clouds that leads all the way from the gravity well caused by the star behind the diopter to the distance.

As long as Chen Ming takes the proper route and doesn't pass through the clouds outside.

Then accidents will never come to him for no reason.

After telling Gamma A the location of the dark cemetery.

Chen Ming lay down directly back in the living cabin of the Iron Mine.

Although he successfully controlled a destroyer and exceeded the limits of his own mental power.

But after breaking through the limit and gradually relaxing, he did feel a strong sense of fatigue, but it was always suppressed by Chen Ming's willpower.

Now that everything is done, Chen Ming no longer has to carry on.

The moment his head hit the pillow, Chen Ming fell directly into sleep.

When Chen Ming woke up.

The diopter level has stopped outside the dark cemetery, in the lightless area designated by Chen Ming.

Chen Ming immediately asked Diopter to spit out the four ships.

Parked side by side with the diopter level.

Looking at the five ships in front of him, Chen Ming suddenly felt relaxed in his heart, and the pressure he had been under suddenly dissipated a lot.

This is the benefit of the spaceship. With strength and confidence, he doesn't need to do anything.

The next thing he has to do is simple, sort out the harvest, repair the spacecraft, and then return to the space station.

The five spaceships are naturally Chen Ming's biggest gain this time.

Diopter level, low light level, lumen level, centurion level, Tachyon level.

Even if you don't look at their own abilities, the value of these five ships is quite outrageous.

An Afterglow destroyer is worth hundreds of millions, no problem.

If the two complete Afterglow frigates are sold to the space station or the boss, the price of the previous half of the Afterglow destroyer will also be no problem.

Although the heavy frigate Centurion class is relatively low in value, it is still a military ship, with complete militarized systems, shields, and radiation modules.

And like it, the Tachyon Fighter-class, which is also a military ship, is even more heavyweight.

Being able to dissipate radiation energy close to the diopter level makes its combat capabilities definitely more powerful than most frigates.

The various equipment with Tachyon's unique technology installed on it also made Chen Ming, a maintenance technician, a little eager to take action.

The overall value of this Fighter class is arguably the highest among the four frigates.

And Chen Ming’s gains are not just that.

The growth of his own mental power and the ability to remotely control spacecraft switching later appeared are also very important.

The growth of mental power allows him to control more and more advanced ships.

The ability to switch and control the spacecraft from a distance is an ability with an exaggerated upper limit.

Chen Ming didn't even dare to think about the maximum role that a person with unlimited real-time control and real-time communication capabilities on a cosmic scale could play.

And in addition to these, when Chen Ming was checking the panels of several new ships, he discovered a new function that appeared on the panels.

Disassemble.

This is what Chen Ming first saw when he checked the detailed data of low-light weapons.

On other spaceships, whether it was weapons or other equipment, or even the pistol that Chen Ming carried, there was also such an option to perform operations.

Chen Ming tried the machine cannon of the Iron Mine and found that the entire machine gun was directly dismantled into the most basic materials and neatly stacked in the storage compartment.

And apart from mental energy, there is no extra consumption in dismantling it.

Chen Ming himself had no other gains except the change in mental power and the increase in panel functions.

However, Chen Ming still remembered something that he had obtained before.

The soldier's personal terminal.

Chen Ming quickly cracked its password and saw some interesting things stored inside.

a list.

A list documenting smuggling information within the military.

And Chen Ming also saw a batch of familiar goods that had lost their final destination.

The quantity of those pink stimulant injections was exactly right, and the caravans smuggling the goods were also the same as those he had killed before.

This list seems to have been specially compiled by this person.

Although he didn't know why he did this, Chen Ming decided to put this list away first. It might be useful in the future.

As the soldier's personal terminal was read, the loot this time was completely processed.

But Chen Ming suddenly remembered a trophy he got a long time ago.

The Whispering Stone.

There are some things that Chen Ming cannot ask outsiders, but he can ask Yuhui AI who must obey his orders.

So Chen Ming went to the engine room of the Iron Ore and found the Whispering Stone that he had stuffed into a sealed iron can.

While slightly feeling the whisper in his ear, he showed it to Gamma AI through the camera inside the Iron Ore.

(End of this chapter)